FIRST PETCO PARK RAIN DELAY; SPORTS HERO RETIRES

1865: President Lincoln signed a proclamation giving the Mission San Luis Rey building and 64 acres of land back to the Catholic Church.

2006: Rain stopped a baseball game at Petco Park for the first time in its history. The delay lasted 45 minutes but didn’t end Japan’s drubbing of South Korea in the semifinals of the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

March 19

1919: Italian, Portuguese, Japanese and Yugoslav fishermen operating about 50 fishing boats berthed in San Diego begin a strike to protest what they saw as overly low wholesale prices for their catch.

1971: An iconic central library designed by William Pereira opened on the University of California San Diego campus. In 1995, it was named Geisel Library in honor of beloved local author Theodor Geisel, a k a Dr. Seuss, and his widow, Audrey.

March 20

1932: A crowd of 20,000 packed the Caliente racetrack to see Phar Lap, the racehorse wonder from Down Under. He won the $50,000-added Agua Caliente Handicap by two lengths.

1969: The Skyfari aerial tram at the San Diego Zoo was inaugurated.

1999: The Legoland California theme park opened on 128 acres of land in Carlsbad.

March 21

1964: SeaWorld opened on 22 acres of leased city land on Mission Bay. The park now spreads across 189 acres.

March 22

1977: Helix High School teacher Myrra Lee was presented with the 1977 National Teacher of the Year Award in Washington, D.C.

2001: Granite Hills High School student Jason Hoffman injured five people on the El Cajon campus in the second school shooting in the county that month.

March 23

1942: The secretary of the Navy designated the new Marine Corps base at Rancho Santa Margarita as Camp Joseph H. Pendleton.